When Animals Attack

By ABC News

Dec. 3, 2013

James Gritz/Getty Images

A Florida woman was seriously injured Monday in a rare bear attack in a suburban subdivision and a kayak fisherman died the same day after a shark attack off the Hawaiian island of Maui. These two have been the latest cases in a string of recent attacks.

The Longwood, Fla., woman was attacked at 8:05 p.m. Monday as she was walking her dogs in a subdivision, Seminole County Fire Rescue Lt. Alisa Keyes told ABC News. The unidentified woman was able to break free and run to a nearby residence where a neighbor called 911.

Though it's a wooded area and there have been several bear sightings, Keyes said this is the first full-fledged attack by a bear on a human she's ever heard of in the state.

Neighbors said bear sightings in the area have become increasingly common lately.

Getty Images

Shark

A kayak fisherman died after a shark attack in Hawaii on Monday, according to the Associated Press.

The attack occurred off the coast of Maui. The man was identified as Patrick Briney, 57, of Stevenson, Wash., the AP reported.

The shark bit Briney's dangling foot while he was fishing.

James Gritz/Getty Images

Cougar

An Oregon big cat sanctuary's head keeper was killed at the facility after being mauled by two cougars in November, according to a state medical examiner.

Renee Radziwon-Chapman, 36, the head keeper at WildCat Haven Sanctuary in Sherwood, Ore., was found dead in the cats' cage, according to sanctuary officials.

Radziwon-Chapman, who worked at the sanctuary for eight years and was the mother of a 5-month-old daughter, died from multiple bite injuries, with the most severe wounds around her head and neck, Dr. Christopher Young, a forensic pathologist for the Oregon State Medical Examiner's Office, told ABCNews.com.

David Cannon/Getty Images

Alligator

In July, a Florida teen whose head was grabbed by an alligator and dragged under water managed to fight off the gator and make it to safety.

Andrew Hudson, 17, of Winter Springs, was out swimming with friends at Little Big Econ State Park in Geneva, Fla., when he thought he kicked a log in the water. But moments later, Hudson was fighting to get his head out of the jaws of a 10-foot-long alligator.

"It came from behind, got his head and dragged him under," his friend Mark O'Shea told ABC News' Orlando, Fla., affiliate WFTV-TV.

Hudson was able to fight off the alligator and make it back to shore. The gator bites left puncture marks on the left side of his head. O'Shea then ran to get help for Hudson, who was covered in blood, WFTV-TV reported. He survived after being taken to a hospital and treated for lacerations and puncture wounds.